The Elemental
by EdroGrimshell
Summary: Demons are not the only beasts in the world, elementals and spirits roam the earth as well, potent and alien. But what happens when one decides to intervene? Naruto x Tenten pairing. Blacksmith!Naruto, Doton!Naruto, Fuinjutsu!Naruto, Alive!Kushina.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** Before I get to this, I will say that this story is a whim, it was brought about by a single thought and a moment of inspiration. I wrote this chapter in the period of an hour with one minor update recently. So this story may not continue, but I do plan to move it along.

Another thing of note, this story is not based on the OC below, it is not based on the Elemental. He is simply the key point of divergence, as well as the general presence of elementals and spirits as a whole.

 **Prologue: The Elemental**

...Heavy footsteps, echoing through the trees, a crackle of fire, muffled by metal, the breath of a bellows. All followed the creature that sprinted through the woods. Moonlight reflected off the silver, a haze of heat wafted fortch, red flame bellowed from its joints, extinguished moments after leaving the body. The elemental ran until it got to the path of destruction, only to sprint down the path, following the destruction until it saw the beast responsible, grasped in the hands of the death dealer itself... the Shinigami. What could only be a sigh of relief echoed through the helmet-like head of the creature, it didn't get there.

Something twisted in the air, the beast wasn't fading as it should, it was being pulled, directed... sealed. Sealed by the human leader of the village. The creature began running again, pushing into a sprint, its purpose unclear as it approached the sealing human and the child to be the soon-to-be-sealed creature's host. A loud clang echoed as it jumped, fire erupting from its feet to keep it aloft before it landed in the clearing, far faster than it had moved prior. The human was dead, the beast was sealed, the child was alone. Not yet alone, another with a similar signature still lived, but only just. They would not last. He'd need to retrieve them.

The creature looked down at the child, so much like the other human. Such a resemblance. His son? Likely. Uncertain. But likely. Another was approaching, too fast for the creature to hide itself. It looked in the direction of the newcomer, an elderly man, white haired, weathered skin, far too frail to move as he did. Chakra... such an amazing substance to allow that kind of movement in one so frail. Then the creature was addressed.

"Who are you?" he spoke with authority, with a right to lead, but he was tired, the creature could sense it. The metal of its body reshaped, bending and twisting to a human frame, allowing it to speak.

"...Forge..." the creature replied in a slow, measured tone, echoed, as if spoken within a metal drum.

The human was unnerved, tense, ready to fight. Now was not the time for a fight. Not for the creature.

"...your intentions?" it asked, the hollow ring of its voice carrying far despite its low tone.

"What?" the human questioned, getting into a fighting stance.

"...your intentions... for the child..." the creature replied again, elaborating and gesturing to the child in the dead man's arms.

The old man glanced at the child, surprised, "he is in my care," the elder replied, resolute.

The creature's gaze never wavered, "...and the demon he holds?" it asked, "...what of it?"

"Contained," the elder was once more on guard, "as it will be for as long as Naruto lives."

"...Naruto..." the creature questions, before a grin forms on the facimile of a face it possessed, "...maelstrom," an echoing chuckle escaped the creature, "...very well... lead on, elder," the creature replied to the confused human.

The human approached the child, cautious of the creature, and took him into his arms, "what is your purpose here... Forge?" the human asked, using the name the creature had given.

"...my purpose?" the chuckle returned, "...the one you call... Maelstrom..." it replied, its features shifting once more to the armored appearance, but its mouth remaining, "...the demon must be contained... the Maelstrom must persist... lest the beast's destruction continue..."

"You intend to protect him?" the elder asked carefully.

"...the Maelstrom must persist..." was the creature's only reply.

The stare from the elder would have unnerved a human, but what he was dealing with wasn't human, it was far more primeval. Far more dangerous.

The creature shifted, looking off in another direction, its senses led to another, fast fading, "..." a noise echoed from its body and it was launched, the elder calling out in surprise as he followed. A burst of flame and the creature landed near another, pierced through and tossed aside.

Her eyes were open, dim, but still alive. The creature approached as the Elder landed. Her signature was so similar to the Maelstrom's... she needed to live on as well, while her spirit still lingered.

"Kushina..." the Elder voiced, barely above a whisper. Forge noted the name, then knelt down to her, setting a hand on the wound, getting a gasp of labored breath from the woman and a startled exclamation from the Elder.

An echoed clang, like a hammer striking metal sounded as the wound began to glow, then echoed again as it started to seal, and again, and again, until the wound was closed. Then blue chains extended up, to a blue duplicate of the woman, the chains brittle, broken, and rusted. More echoed clangs as the chains grew stronger, the rust fading, the broken bits reforged, and then, slowly pulled back down. The blue spirit of the woman reentered the body, out of sync at first. One final clang, an the woman breathed again, her spirit was back in its place. Still unconscious, but breathing easy, he lifted her as the Elder looked on.

"How did you..." the Elder started to ask, before the creature spoke.

"...more approach... their intent is ill..." it stated, getting a flinch from the elder, even as the masked humans arrived, swords at the ready for the creature.

"Stand down ANBU, he is not here to harm us," the elder proclaimed, the proof resting on the creature's shoulder. The Masked all returned their weapons to their sheaths, with only the slightest hesitation. The creature's gaze tore into them, made them feel burdened, before it lifted as its gaze shifted to the next, until it rested on the elder once more.

"Will you accompany us?" the elder requested.

"..." no vocal reply was needed as the creature, Forge, nodded its ascent, and followed the elder the the Masked to the walls of their dwelling. But no, they lead to another... a nondwelling. A tower. Forge followed, its curiosity peaked by the strange place. Humans were always interesting. But these ones. These chakra users. They were more so.

It was a short while before the elder entered a room, large, circular, empty. Not empty, two were here. No, three, the third in shadow. Hidden, welcomed within the dark element. A burst of flame, and the shadows were dispelled, a ball of fire shedding light to cast them away.

The ill intent was back, the nerves were taught, the creature's gaze returned to the elder, "...light to dispel the shadows... I do not care for them... or those that dwell so comfortably in them..." the creature's gaze shifted back to the one previously hidden by the shadows, bandaged, damaged, but twisted.

"You'll find it hard to avoid them, I'm afraid. Ninja favor the shadows," the elder replied. The three others, on guard. The Cautious, the Neutral, and the Twisted.

"...human's don't belong to the shadow..." Forge responded, freezing those there in place with the finality of the statement, "...it is not a part of them as the other elements are... I do not care for those that belong to shadow..."

"We will keep this brief then," the elder replied, getting a slow nod from Forge.

"Hiruzen, who is this man," the Twisted asked; calm, unsettlingly calm, restrained. Just like the shadows he belonged to.

"...not a man..." Forge was first to reply, "...Forge... I am an elemental..." Forge replied, getting all to focus on its presence.

End Prologue

 **AN:** And there you have it, the prologue to my first, hopefully, multi-chapter story. Please feel free to review.


	2. Eleven Years

**AN:** Well, the inspiration is still flowing, though not quite as strongly, so I managed to get this chapter done. Yes, it's a time skip, a pretty big one. As mentioned in the prologue, it was just to set up the point of divergence.

dayfox96: I'm glad to see you like the story. As you can see, I indeed have a direction I plan to go in. I'm not sure how often I'll be able to post, but as long as my inspiration lasts I will see this story continued.

Chapter 1: Eleven Years

Today... Today was the final day of the academy year, and for one Naruto Uzumaki, it was the most important day of the year, he would be able to try for early graduation today, his parents had refused to let him try when he first joined the academy, saying he needed the time, but now, now he'd be able to give it his all! He'd be able to get into a genin team!

He was quite the sight, blonde hair spiked up wildly, heavily tanned skin from constant work in the heat of the forge, sapphire blue eyes, and whisker marks on both of his cheeks. Of middling height, it was his build that drew attention, heavily muscled yet lean, Naruto had more muscle than most full grown men, at least among the civilians. His clothing was simple, a dark brown shirt, a matte grey and green jacket, tan pants, standard shinobi sandals, in green, and a pair of dark tinted goggles on his forehead. A pouch was strapped to a belt at his waist, left loose and slightly off level, a scroll hanging off the other end by a leather strap.

The young blonde walked casually down the street, barely noticing the chatter of the people around him, so focused on his own little world that the people around him didn't even come into view, until he recognized it and nearly slapped himself out of it. Gin-oji had been trying to break him of that habit for years now, his tendency to over focus on something, usually his own thoughts, to the exclusion of all else. He still had trouble of it even after three years of Gin-oji working on breaking that habit, though he was a lot better of it now.

Shaking his head as he entered the academy - how long had he been daydreaming? - Naruto tried to get himself to spread his senses, an exercise that Gin had taken to having him do while working in the smithy. It helped him get in tune with his environment and not caught unawares like he used to, a dangerous thing to have happen as a shinobi. Naruto didn't let his attention linger long, or at least he tried, every now and then there'd be a bit of a snag with his focus, but he was quick to catch himself. Even with only the few minutes it took him to get to class and taking his usual seat by the window, more a test of his own ability to let his mind drift while still paying attention... it didn't always work.

Naruto was a middling student at the best of times, he could never quite make it through the day without getting lost in his thoughts for a time, more than once he'd missed an entire class, while still present, simply because he got lost in his own little world. This happened less after Gin got him into the habit of forcing his mind to wander a bit so he'd get back into the class before he missed too much, but he still had gaps he had to look up or ask his mother about later. It was rather embarrassing to the lad at times.

That wasn't to say he was a bad student, not by any means, he just didn't test well, his tendency to too intently focus often getting him stuck on a problem rather than skipping it and coming back around like his mother always told him to do. It just didn't work that way for him. If he got stuck, he'd stay stuck, and it was frustrating to say the least. He knew the material, he just couldn't get it onto the paper, leading to his poor grades despite his best efforts.

Maybe he shouldn't try to pass early, not until he could break the habit?

No, he wanted to become a ninja, he'd try, if he failed then he'd know he wasn't ready, if he passed he'd know he was ready. He was still working on it, as long as he could work it out a little more before any big missions he'd be fine. With that thought in mind he nodded as the teacher came in.

Hitori-sensei, the thrown weapons teacher, and his assistant Iruka, walked in, getting the class to quiet down. They'd all learned early on not to annoy Hitori-sensei, he had a good arm and an almost endless supply of chalk sticks as his weapon of choice. The fact he always hit the person dead center of the forehead made it all the more reason for the students to not cause trouble in the class room.

"Good morning class, as you know today is the last day of the academy year. After today you will have two months to prepare for the final academy year," Hitori-sensei spoke in measure tones and a straight face, giving him a reputation as a no-nonsense kind of teacher, "you have studied and trained hard this past year, and I can see potential in many of you as successful shinobi of Konoha. Do not let your skills stagnate during the coming break, I would hate to see that potential wasted when you return..." he paused and turned to Iruka, who nodded as he took up a few papers and started walking the room, leaving papers before certain students, including Naruto, "some of you have been granted permission to try for early enrollment to a genin team, those that have are asked to go to the room on the sheet before you where your examination will take place. For the rest of the class, we will be going over the Henge (Transformation), Kawarimi (Body Replacement), and Bunshin (Clone) Jutsu as well as sparring matches for the day to see how far you have progressed and to measure your progress once you return after the break."

Naruto could barely contain his excitement as he took the sheet and headed towards the assigned room, barely even registering the other students as he went. They were to meet in room 201, a room normally set aside for chakra theory and fuinjutsu, it hadn't been used for that purpose in years now, simply acting as the new examination room. A chunin stood in front of the door, waiting for the few stragglers to show up.

The chunin, counted out the students before nodding, "when I call your name enter the examination room. You will be tested on key aspects a genin is expected to know and be able to accomplish, after you complete your test within you will be asked to go to the training ground outside where you will be tested on thrown weapons and taijutsu. First examinee; Adachi, Sora."

Naruto almost groaned, they were going alphabetically... and he'd be the last of the ten examinees. He was honestly expecting more than that. Was there more than one examination room? Now that he thought about it, there were only three of the students from his class out of the eight that applied for early graduations. There had to be more than one examination room then.

Sora emerged from the room and headed down the hall towards the door to the training grounds, a slight frown on his face, "Next examinee, Aoyama, Risuki." the chunin called out, managing to break Naruto from his thoughts, he needed to keep his focus from getting to entangled into his thought processes, it would not do well to miss his que here. He could think about other things later, when it wasn't so important he keep his thoughts fluid.

Risuki emerged roughly twenty minutes later, looking apprehensive, but headed for the training grounds regardless, "Next examinee; Higurashi, Tenten," the chunin said the moment Risuki was out of sight. Naruto knew Tenten, or at least of her, Gin-oji tended to speak of her father quite highly, apparently he supplied some of the weapons for their shop, including some of the ones Tenten was learning to use in her free time. Maybe he'd meet her one day.

It only took fifteen minutes for Tenten to exit the room, a confident look easily visible on her face as she headed out to the training field for the next part of the exam.

The pattern went on until only two people were in the hallway, once the examinee left, Naruto was expecting the other kid to get called in, but was surprised by the call of, "Next examinee, Uzumaki, Naruto," Naruto let his surprise show when he looked at the other kid.

"Yamishiro," he says, not even looking at Naruto, who mouthed "oh" before he walked into the room.

The room was less like a normal classroom and far more open, the original seating long since removed, a desk at the far end where the examiner sat, "good morning Uzumaki-san," the examiner said after the door was closed, prompting Naruto to stand in front of her, "I am Kaede Satake and will be your examiner today," the woman was older, easily in her late thirties, with short brown hair, pupilless mauve eyes, and light skin. She didn't wear the normal chunin clothing, though...

Naruto nodded in acknowledgement before Kaede got started, "let's start simply with basic ninjutsu. Please demonstrate three techniques you are proficient with," Naruto blinked, he was expecting something more in depth with how long it had taken the others to do this.

"Henge!" Naruto decided to start simple, turning into a copy of the examiner with the jutsu.

"Hm, good, no missing details... you show above average proficiency in the Henge, I'm surprised though, most genin at your level have some degree of fault to their Henge," she comments, indicating the open window, "you either have good instincts or have been tutored on the process," she writes something down. This gave Naruto an idea on why this took so long, if she commented on every technique.

"Demonstrate your next technique, please," Kaede asked Naruto, her attention back on him.

"Right," Naruto replied and made three handseals before disappearing in a Kawarimi, appearing on the side of the room where a few chairs were kept.

"Hm, handseals could be a little faster and there was a bit more smoke than necessary, that indicates wasted chakra. However, it is adequate for a pass on your second technique, you'll want to work on this one more than your henge, Kawarimi is a life saver for genin, and many chunin swear by the technique," she says as she writes out more on the paper.

"And your third technique?" she asks simply, turning her attention once more on Naruto.

Naruto nods and makes four hand seals, getting a raised eyebrow from the examiner, then calls out "Doton: Doryuuheki," as he spit out a ball of mud to form a short wall, barely an inch taller than Naruto, before him.

"Well now, I was expecting a Bunshin like the other students. A good display. I can tell you're more proficient in this technique than your Kawarimi," Kaede says, showing some interest, "it also means you've sought out additional techniques yourself, which shows some drive," she starts writing again, "do you have any additional techniques?"

"Not currently but I am working on Doton: Teppodama (Earth Release: Gunshot)," Naruto replied nervously.

"Good, that gives you some offensive potential outside of kunai and taijutsu," Kaede replies, writing a note on her paper for the boy, "last thing before I let you go to the next part of the test," she says, "dispel the genjutsu I just put you under," she says with a smile as sakura petals start to fall from all directions around the boy. A moment later, they vanish and Naruto is back in the classroom, his fingers in the seal to release the genjutsu.

"Hm, one burst, quick to dispel, no lingering effects. However you didn't detect the genjutsu before I brought attention to it. You'll need to work on detection, but you've got dispelling pretty well figured out. You're free to go, Uzumaki-san," Kaede says, allowing Naruto to leave, a little confused by the woman. She wasn't like the teachers he'd come to know, and he wasn't sure what to make of it.

Naruto exitted the room and made his way outside to take the next part of the exam. He does hear the last student called into the room before he makes it out of hearing range though, "Next examinee, Yamishiro, Kotetsu."

Once outside he saw that a chunin was in the training field with some targets and an arena, "Uzumaki," he said as Naruto arrived, not bothering with an honorific, "I'm Hiroko Inukai and will be testing you on your taijutsu and throwing skill. If we have the time we'll also measure your conditioning."

He was far stricter than Kaede had been, starting Naruto off with thrown weapons, kunai, shuriken, and mixing the two, with each hand. He didn't comment, just writing down his notes, then moved to taijutsu, except when they went to the sparring area there was a genin team, "Uzumaki, you will be facing a genin for your taijutsu test, Takashi, you're up."

One of the genin entered the arena, a circle about ten meters in diameter, he wasn't much older than Naruto, probably only a year out of the academy, and was very plain looking, brown hair, brown eyes, no discernable traits except for a pair of red triangles under his eyes, marking him as an Inuzuka, his partner sat with the rest of the team, not joining the fight, "let's see what you've got kid," he goaded on, trying to get a rise out of Naruto.

Naruto got into position and took up his stance, legs spread, arms crossed, and hands in a claw-like position rather than fists, "let's," was the one word reply, which seemed to get more of a rise out of the Inuzuka than he got out of Naruto.

"Begin on my mark..." he took a pause to look at each combatant, getting nods in turn, "Begin!" he called, letting his arm drop and signalling the start of the fight. Naruto deflected a heavy punch from his opponent, he was much faster than Naruto was used to dealing with! He followed up with a kick that Naruto blocked, but was pushed back by the power behind it.

The Inuzuka laughed, "Can't stand up to my taijutsu can you?" he asked tauntingly before he came in again. His attacks were all either blocked, or taken with a grunt, as Naruto measured his opponent. After a few short skirmishes, Naruto decided it was time to go on the offensive. This time, when his opponent charged, so did he. The two met in a flurry of punches, a quick deflection and Naruto spun on his heel, landing an elbow strike to his opponent's shoulder, earning a grunt from the irate Inuzuka.

"Not bad," Naruto's opponent said as he grabbed his shoulder, "let's try this then," and before Naruto could register, he was hit by a flurry of blows that put him on the ground, with his opponent holding a kunai close to Naruto's neck, "and that's game."

"Very good, both of you," Hiroko said, as Naruto's opponent helped him up. Hiroko wrote out for a moment before turning back to Naruto, "your results will be given after all examinees have been tested and your scores processed. Head to room 202 to wait for the results."

Before Naruto left, he got a pat on the back from Takashi, "you put up a decent fight kid, you hit harder than anyone else I've fought today, even if you didn't land the most hits."

Naruto grinned back at Takashi before he went to the designated room, passing Kotetsu as he did so. Inside were the other eight that took the examination before him.

It was roughly thirty minutes later that Kotetsu entered the room, looking slightly worse for wear, and another fifteen before Kaede, Hiroko, and the chunin that stood at the door of room 201, they'd never gotten his name. It was the nameless chunin that began writing names on the board, "the student's whose names are on the board have been deemed good enough for early graduation," he said, "those that passed will need to be here tomorrow at nine to meet your jonin sensei and assign you into teams with the other students that have passed."

Naruto deflated, his name wasn't on the board, he'd have to go through another year. Surprisingly, only two names were even on the board, Sora Adachi and Kotetsu Yamishiro. Naruto's gaze drifted to the students in question, what had they done to pass?

 **AN:** Well, I'm going to cut off here. My inspiration actually held up a lot better than I thought it would with this story. I hope everyone likes what I've done with it so far. Regardless, you get a few sneak peaks at a few things, including my portrayal of Naruto in this story and the difference in how he's treated with his mother being known.

I know there are quite a few OCs in this chapter, but most of them won't be showing up very often, or at all really, they're mostly here to set up the story.


	3. Ichiraku Ramen

AN: Sorry this took so long, I got a bit caught up in other things and ran out of steam at the last half. Managed to get a bit of inspiration today and put the rest of it together.

Chapter 2: Ichiraku Ramen

 _Naruto deflated, his name wasn't on the board, he'd have to go through another year. Surprisingly, only two names were even on the board, Sora Adachi and Kotetsu Yamishiro. Naruto's gaze drifted to the students in question, what had they done to pass?_

Class was let out for the day after the early exam results were announced, Sora and Kotetsu being given headbands before they left. Naruto wandered the streets, almost aimless as his thoughts wandered even as his feet did the same, what did he need to pass? What did Sora and Kotetsu do to pass? Maybe he should have asked them before they'd wandered off, but he couldn't do so now, he didn't know where they went.

So he wandered, letting his feet carry him to one of three places he frequented, The Silver Whirlpool Smithy. Pausing a moment at the door, Naruto shook his head and continued on, Gin would be here when he came back around. He heard the bell to the smithy go off behind him as he walked on, but didn't really pay it much mind as he walked to the place he really wanted to be right now; Ichiraku Ramen.

The ramen stand was a nice little place, it was cozy and Naruto always felt at home there, "Hey Old Man, Ayame-chan," Naruto called out as he walked in, pushing the overhang aside with a smile, he couldn't quite get himself psyched up enough for his usual grin, "can I get the usual?"

"Two miso with mushrooms coming right up!" Teuchi Ichiraku called from the back, already getting the noodles into the miso broth and cleaning then cutting shiitake and enokitake into the ramen, "how'd your exam go today?" the ramen chef asked as he worked.

Naruto's smile grew sour, "I didn't pass, I got some good advice for next time though," he says, looking on the bright side, the first examiner _had_ given him something to work on at the very least, "won't keep me down for long. For Sure!" he said, using what was essentially his catch phrase as known by both of the ramen chefs.

"We'll be rooting for you, Naruto," Ayame was first to reply, giving some encouragement, "you'll make it next time."

Teuchi chuckled as another customer came in, and made an order himself, "one beef ramen coming up," Teuchi called out before he delivered Naruto his ramen, "you're a determined kid, Naruto, you'll make it in no time flat."

Naruto gave a quick laugh, "Thanks you two, I'll be asking Gin-oji for help later, I've got two months to train before the next year at the Academy. And Mom's been dying to teach me some kenjutsu now that Gin-oji has me working on making swords."

"Oh? He let you start on them now? Even after that last time?" Ayame asked with some humor while Teuchi dropped off a bowl to another customer.

"I don't know how many times I have to say that wasn't my fault!" Naruto replied vehemently, "I still haven't fully grown that eyebrow back, either," he mutters off to the side, getting a giggle from Ayame. Trying to distract himself, Naruto dug into his already cooling ramen. Another customer came in, and it was someone Naruto recognized, he had to pause a moment to remember the genin's name though, Takashi Inuzuka, the genin he'd fought during his exam.

Well, there was something he could look into.

"Yo, there Ichiraku-san," Takashi said first thing, aimed at Ayame rather than Teuchi, taking a seat a short distance from Naruto, "one chicken ramen please, and spice it up, I wanna be breathing fire for the next hour after I eat. And my cousin was wondering if you still had those dumplings we got last time we came here, she's practically addicted to the things now."

"Coming right up," Ayame replied with a nod and a smile as she went to get the genin's order, Naruto went back to his ramen to try and think how to initiate a conversation without it being weird.

He didn't have to wait long for Takashi to spot him though, and got him to take a closer seat, "hey, Naruto right?" Takashi asked, getting a nod from the blonde as he finished a bite of ramen, "how you feeling? No lingering bruises or anything from our match?" he asked simply.

"I should be asking you that," Naruto countered, "got you pretty hard back there, and I know elbow strikes can leave a pretty nasty bruise," he commented with a grin.

"I'll say, a few decent hits from you and I'd have been really hurting. It's a good thing I had more combat experience and was faster than you or I wouldn't have been able to take on the next guy."

"I was curious about him, he passed the exam, so did another one called Sora, what did they do different?" Naruto asked, jumping right into the question as his curiosity got the better of him.

"Ah, I figured they would, they were the only two to actually use Jutsu during the spar," Takashi commented, getting a blink from Naruto, which in turn got a chuckle from the Inuzuka, "They weren't just testing your taijutsu, you know, but also your ability to adapt to a more well trained opponent and how well you use what you know. Most figure it's just a taijutsu test and go with it as such, hell, I beat almost everyone using my clan's Shikyaku no Jutsu (Four Legs Technique)"

"Oh, is that how you got so much faster just before you beat me?" Naruto asked.

"Yep. I'm not as good at the technique as other members of my clan, but I'm good enough at it to help test academy students at least. Not sure I'd have been able to beat some of this year's class without it though. Did the same for last year's students and I seriously only needed to use it on one of the applicants."

"I'm guessing I didn't fall into that category, you were pushing me around the field pretty well when we fought," Naruto commented as Takashi's food arrived.

"We'll have the dumplings ready for when you leave, don't want them getting cold while you're talking," Ayame informed him, a nod being the simple reply.

"Actually you had a pretty solid base, not to mention I never got more than a grunt out of you with any direct hit. I'd say it was up in the air, whoever wore out the other would have won that fight, and I didn't want to take that chance, especially with another fight after yours. Might have to find out for real which of us would have won that one with only taijutsu some time."

Naruto gave a laugh, "I'd like that, I wouldn't mind a spar every now and then, I need someone that doesn't have to hold back to not stomp me into the ground."

"I think we can arrange that," Takashi replied with a laugh of his own, "I'll be at training ground fourteen all week, any time you wanna have a spar just stop by, I'm sure my sensei won't mind."

"You bet!" Naruto replied as the two finished their meals, and waved each other off.

AN: Well, Naruto made a new friend! Next Chapter everyone get's to meet Naruto's "uncle" Gin.


End file.
